Traditionally, docking bases for portable devices, such as portable handsets for telephones, have comprised molded carriages that cradle the portable handsets, by generally conforming to a shape of at least a portion of the handset. As a result, the handset may be positioned in the cradle of the docking base in only one orientation, so that contacts on the handset make contact with corresponding contacts on the docking base. The contacts on the docking base are thus always positioned to deliver power to the handset when the handset is docked with the docking base (i.e., with the contacts on the handset in contact with the contacts on the docking base).
Although such a configuration almost guarantees that the corresponding contacts will mate when the portable handset is docked, such a configuration necessarily limits the directions in which the portable handset may be docked and undocked to one single direction. At the same time, because of the limitations in terms of the directions in which the handset may be docked or undocked, the process of docking the handset becomes necessarily cumbersome and inelegant.
The embodiments disclosed herein are directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.